Home > Business > Employing an apprentice or trainee > Five easy steps to employing an apprentice or trainee

Five easy steps to employing an apprentice or trainee

There are five steps you must take to employ an apprentice or trainee:

Step 1: Choose the right apprenticeship or traineeship

There are over 700 different apprenticeships and traineeships to choose from. Selecting the right apprenticeship or traineeship for your business means:

deciding what the job entails
identifying the skills required to do the job
determining whether the employee needs to be full-time or part-time. If you require someone on a part-time basis, think about whether a school-based apprentice or trainee will meet your needs.

For a list of all apprenticeships and traineeships currently available in Queensland, search the Queensland Training Information Service (QTIS) or contact Apprenticeships Info on 1800 210 210.

Step 2: Decide how to employ the apprentice or trainee

Apprentices and trainees can be employed directly by your business where you will be responsible for managing their employment and training.

To employ an apprentice or trainee directly your business must have:

the range of work and facilities required to train the apprentice or trainee
a tradesperson or qualified person who is able to supervise the apprentice or trainee's work-based training.

If you think your business can not meet these requirements you can still be involved in employing an apprentice or trainee through a group training organisation. Group training organisations employ apprentices and trainees and place them with host employers on a short or long-term basis to get hands on experience. Your business may choose to become a host employer for an apprentice or trainee to suit your business needs.

To become a host employer through a group training organisation, visit the Group Training Association website or call 1800 819 747.

Employing school-based apprentices and trainees

Your school-based apprentice or trainee will undertake paid employment with your business for a minimum of 48 days (or the equivalent hours according to the relevant industrial instrument) per 12-month period. Depending on their school timetable and your requirements, the student may work with your business:

one or more (full or part) days a week while attending school on the remaining days
for blocks at a time
on weekends, school holidays or after school.

The school-based apprentice or trainee will continue to attend school and work towards their Queensland Certificate of Education and Overall Position (OP).

The school-based apprentice or trainee's employment and/or training must impact on their school timetable for the program to be considered school-based, rather than part-time.

Step 3: Find the right person

Taking on an apprentice or trainee is a big commitment. It is important that you think carefully about whether you can give someone a training opportunity and employ them for the term of the apprenticeship or traineeship.

Apprentices and trainees can be recruited by:

visiting the Job Services Australia website, or calling the Employer Line on 13 17 15
searching the Tradeapprentices.com.au website for an out-of-trade apprentice
placing an advertisement in the paper or on a recruitment website
using a private recruitment company or online recruitment service
contacting your local high school and asking for details of the school-industry partnerships in your local area; to recruit students for a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship or an industry placement; or for an introduction to someone about to leave school
contacting your local training organisation to find students who have finished relevant introductory training and may be interested in an apprenticeship or traineeship
offering apprenticeships or traineeships to current employees.

Step 4: Choose your training partners

Work with an Australian Apprenticeships Centre

After you and the apprentice or trainee agree to enter into an apprenticeship or traineeship, a training contract needs to be completed. An Australian Apprenticeships Centre can assist you to complete the training contract form. Australian Apprenticeships Centres provide a free service to help businesses with the commencement of apprenticeships and traineeships. They will also:

provide an induction and general information about apprenticeships and traineeships
advise on your eligibility for Australian Government incentives
help you lodge claims for Australian Government incentives
make regular contact with you and your apprentice or trainee to check on the progress of training.

To find your local Australian Apprenticeships Centre, visit the Australian Apprenticeships website or call 13 38 73.

Choose a training organisation

You and your apprentice or trainee will need to choose a training organisation (TAFE institute or private training organisation) who will work with you throughout the apprenticeship or traineeship. Your Australian Apprenticeships Centre can assist with this. The training organisation will help you and your apprentice or trainee develop a training plan, deliver training, assess your apprentice's or trainee's achievement of skills, and issue a qualification to the apprentice or trainee on successful completion of training.

Each training organisation offers different methods of training apprentices and trainees. You and your apprentice or trainee should shop around for the right one to suit both your needs. Points to discuss with a potential training organisation include:

what skills does your apprentice or trainee need to learn
how and when the training organisation can deliver training, and what training methods are on offer
if training is conducted on-the-job or off-the-job or combination, and if it is certain days per week or block training
who will assess the apprentice or trainee, and when the assessment will take place
what learning assistance is available - e.g. help with literacy or numeracy skills, or support for apprentices or trainees with disabilities
what feedback or progress reports you can expect.

The Queensland Government has registered a number of training organisations to deliver training for apprenticeships and traineeships.

Some training organisations are funded by the Queensland Government to provide training for all apprenticeships, and some traineeships, at a reduced cost. You and your apprentice or trainee have the option of selecting a training organisation that receives government funding, or can choose to pay for training delivered by another training organisation. Search the Queensland Training Information Service (QTIS) for training organisations funded by the Queensland Government - referred to as Pre-Qualified Suppliers.

Once you and your apprentice or trainee have chosen the right training organisation, and they have agreed to be your preferred training organisation, that organisation is then referred to as your 'supervising registered training organisation' or 'training organisation' in all official paperwork and legal documentation.

Following the induction and negotiation of a training plan, your training organisation will make regular contact with you to monitor training and provide support.

Step 5: Get started

Complete the paperwork

Your Australian Apprenticeships Centre will require you and your apprentice or trainee to sign a training contract as an agreement to work and train together for a length of time. If your apprentice or trainee is under the age of 18, their parent or guardian is also required to sign the training contract. If you are employing a school-based apprentice or trainee, their school must also be involved and give consent.

A training contract is a legally binding record, meaning you and your apprentice or trainee are bound to the conditions contained in the Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000, so it is important that the contract does not contain any false or misleading information.

Make sure that you understand and check the information in the training contract before you sign it. If the contract is cancelled, the department may take action including:

recovering funds provided for training
recovering incentives and allowances
prosecuting for breaches of the Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000.

The training contract and training plan must be completed during the probationary period of the apprenticeship or traineeship. It is important to create the contract and plan as soon as possible, as the employer must lodge the signed training contract with the Australian Apprenticeships Centre of choice before the end of the probationary period.

Once the training contract is registered, you and your apprentice or trainee will receive a letter from the department and a copy of the training contract from your Australian Apprenticeships Centre.

Use the probation period to be sure

The probationary period specified in the training contract allows you and your apprentice or trainee to work together before deciding whether you both wish to continue with the training. During this period, you may assess the apprentice or trainee's work ethic, reliability and potential to succeed to decide whether you have made the right choice.

Probation begins on the day the apprenticeship or traineeship commences and usually lasts 90 days for an apprentice or 30 days for a trainee.

If you need more time to decide whether to continue with the apprenticeship or traineeship, you can seek a probationary period extension by contacting Apprenticeships Info on 1800 210 210 before the end of the probationary period.

Once probation is completed, you and your apprentice or trainee are contracted to each other for the length of the training contract. If either party wishes to cancel the apprenticeship or traineeship after the end of the probationary period, you will need to contact Apprenticeships Info on 1800 210 210.

[top of page]

More information:

Employer responsibilities information sheet
Apprentice and trainee responsibilities information sheet
Funding and incentives Funding and incentives are available to eligible employers from the Queensland and Commonwealth governments to help meet the costs of employing an apprentice or trainee.
Be Constructive - Build your future on a trade Be Constructive aims to help you build your future on a trade, whether you're an employer looking for an apprentice/trainee, or an apprentice looking for funding support.
Be Constructive Employment Directory The Be Constructive Employment Directory is the Queensland building and construction industry's free online job board.